Jack King Award
The Jack King Award supports a Canadian live performance designer in a pursuit of personal artistic development with an award of $4000 to support their creative goals.
Submissions for the 2026 award open July 15, 2026
Application Guidelines
Applications should focus on artistic development – a period of creative exploration, an acquisition of new skills, or an apprenticeship – rather than on project completion, and do not need to follow any set structure. Designers of any age and at any stage in their career or in transition to another discipline are encouraged to apply. Designers must be a Full, Associate or Emeritus member of ADC and have a minimum of 4 years of professional design experience.
Dates to Remember
- Applications open: July 15th, 2026
- Applications close: October 7th, 2026
- Successful applicants announced: October 28th, 2026
Applicant are asked to submit:
- A letter outlining the creative goals and designated period of creative exploration.
- A CV and 250 word bio.
- Two letters of support.
The proposed undertaking does not have to be strictly “design” related. Portfolios and other supporting material need not accompany applications.
Eligibility: All practicing live performance ADC designers of all ages with no less than 4 years of professional experience are eligible to apply. The jury will take a loose and broad definition of qualifying experience: however, the general intent of the award is not for those who are still finishing or have only recently completed their formal training. Applicants must be Full, Associate or Emeritus ADC member and must be either Canadian citizens or residents of Canada.
The recipient will be asked to provide a brief feedback report at the conclusion of their undertaking.
For more information or any inquiries, contact: Denyse Karn at denyse@designers.ca
Call for contributions to the Associated Designers of Canada Endowment Fund
To support the Jack King Award, the ADC maintains an endowment fund with the Ontario Arts Foundation. This endowment is designed to provide regular funding for the award in perpetuity.
We are issuing a Call for Contributions to the ADC’s Endowment Fund. Your generous tax-deductible donation to the Endowment will allow the amount to grow and contribute to our award in perpetuity. A charitable tax receipt will be issued for all contributions.
Please consider making a donation
About the Jack King Award
Jack King is remembered as a designer, but he was much more. His experience as an actor, director, prop maker, dyer, scenic artist, and administrator revealed itself in the depth and maturity of his work. He was largely self-taught, benefitting from every influence that came his way, from his early teenage years at the Chatham Little Theatre to his long association with Leslie Hurry at the Stratford Festival. Throughout his career, he continued to grow as an artist, maintaining his personal style while allowing each project its own unique expression.
when I start a show, I settle myself down to read the play. I am imagining each character … who they are, where they are moving, what they are wearing, where they are on the set. That is emerging in my head. In other words I am directing and acting the play as well as designing it. When I finish reading the play, I immediately scribble down my ideas, concepts, flashes of shapes … anything that has come into my head at the first reading … these will usually be in the finished product somewhere, although they may be greatly altered, but they have been a clue to the whole puzzle …
History of the Award
First presented in 1992, the Jack King Award was established as a memorial to Jack King, whose untimely death in 1987, at the age of 48, was a great loss to his fellow designers and the theatre community in general. After a 15-year hiatus, the 2019 establishment of an endowment fund allowed the ADC to resume the annual then biennial presentation of this award in 2021. The Award supports a Canadian live performance designer in a pursuit of personal artistic development—be it an apprenticeship, a period of creative exploration, or an acquisition of new skills.
